Babalú has an astonishing post on how Venezuelans are dying after being operated for cataracts in Cuba for “free.” There have been at least four such reports, but these are just the ones that are known.

Coincidently, this reminds me of an article that I read earlier this month where the Cuban parliament may be considering a proposal to authorize sex change operations and modifying identity papers to diagnosed transsexuals. The principal promoter is Mariela Castro Espín head of the National Center of Sexual Education (CENESEX)…if the last name sounds familiar; well she is Raúl’s (fidel’s less macho brother) daughter.

Why is Cuba even considering this, when homosexuals have absolutely no rights in Cuba? It would be fruitless to send Communist missionaries to Venezuela, Bolivia or Pakistan to convert the homosexuals (to turn them into hombres), it just would not happen. Ah, but you can mobilize thousands of doctors and offer “free” sex change operations. After all it is an actual medical procedure. Many transsexuals would be grateful (the ones that survive) to the Cuban revolution for giving them the Danny to Maritza transformation. It would another great accomplishment of the revolution. And the benevolent dictator can then offer to fly Cuban airplanes to San Francisco and offer free operations to 150,000 breasted men that are still sporting a penis. The pictures will show airplanes loaded with “ladies” and their prominent Adam’s apple returning with a few less body parts, but grateful. And thus a new breed of fidel loving Communist will emerge in size 11 PRADA heels.

''OFAC is merely implementing the laws regulating travel to Cuba, which have been clearly spelled out for months and years,'' said U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, through spokesman Alex Cruz.

If you live in Southern California all you need to do is get in your car and drive to Tijuana, MX a 70 miles ride to the TJ airport. An airplane leaves every Saturday with destination Havana. About 10 to 20% of the passengers are Cuban-Americans going to see families. I am sure that some are not. Some of these are "mules" taking money to relatives of other Cubans for a fee. However, the other 80% are Hollywood types, members of academia, and just plain tourists. All that is needed is for a US treasury agent to stand at the gate at the airport and start taking pictures, and have a nice fine waiting in the mail when they return from their fabulous holiday.

Earlier this month the LA Times ran a story titled: Cuba, suspended in time. The story was nothing more than a "how to" travel to Cuba tips. It included information on how to get there (without being caught), where to stay, where to eat.

Here is one idiot's comment posted with regards to the LA Times story.

IT is a shame that Americans are unable to travel to Cuba in an open way. Our government has tried for years to get rid of Fidel Castro. We have sent hit men to try to kill him and imposed years of economic sanctions.

By my count, he is dealing with the 10th American president since he came to power. What is the point in continuing with sanctions? The only reason they continue is because of the very strong anti-Castro contingent in Florida. What is interesting is that the Cubans in Florida are only punishing the Cubans they left behind.

MIKE REARDON

Fallbrook

Here is another.

THANKS for the wonderful, unbiased article on Cuba, "Cuba, Suspended in Time," Jan. 15]. Finally, an article free of anti-Castro jabs. I've been to Cuba four times, and your article was right on.

Today marks the 153rd anniversary of the birth of one of Cuba's greates hero, José Martí. Throughout Cuban communities in the USA solemn ceremonies will commemorate this event, children will read his poetry, sing and dance in his honor. In castro's Cuba thousands of pioneros will attend cumpulsory marches (not a Martí ideal), will wave Cuban flags and their fists in the air while shouting anti-American slogans, and give speeches comparing how much like Martí is the comandante in boots.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

The comandante in sneakers paid a personal visit to the construction site at the American mission in Havana. What's being built, its a "surprise," he said. Too bad that the bulldozer operator did not dump a load of dirt on top of the man in the olive green garb.

HAVANA (AP) - Fidel Castro visited a mysterious new construction site outside the U.S. Interests Section on Wednesday night, but kept mum over what was being built in front of the mission - a growing flashpoint for U.S.-Cuba relations.

Dressed in his olive green uniform and surrounded by security men, Castro made the nighttime visit one day after directing a massive march past the building to protest recent U.S. actions aimed at Cuba, including a new electronic sign streaming news and human rights messages.

"If I tell you, it will ruin the surprise," Castro told reporters who asked what workers were building. The Cuban president said he was there primarily "to greet the workers."

CZECH supermodel Helena Houdova took a break from the catwalk to visit communist Cuba and was arrested for taking photographs in a slum, she said today.

The former Miss Czech Republic 1999 runs a foundation in New York that supports disadvantaged children in nine countries, and she wanted to see what she could do to help in Cuba.

But on Monday, Cuban security police detained Houdova and her travel companion, Czech psychologist Mariana Kroftova, while they were taking photographs in the poor Havana neighbourhood of Arroyo Naranjo. Read the rest here.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Wow! Is this funny or what, how the mighty dictator is afraid of mere words. Less than 24 hours after the 7 hour march in Havana, trenches are being built to erect what appears to be a block wall to restrict the view of the electronic billboard. Just like the Soviet Union was driven to bankruptcy in the arms race, maybe, just maybe we can do the same to the dictactor with simple billboards. Who knew?!

Cuba moves to block US electronic message board

By Anthony Boadle

HAVANA (Reuters) - Bulldozers dug up a street in front of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana on Wednesday apparently preparing to block the view of an electronic billboard carrying human rights messages that has angered President Fidel Castro.

Brigades of workers began the task on Tuesday night, hours after Castro and hundreds of thousands of Cubans marched past the mission to protest against the five-foot-high (1.5- meter) ticker that streams messages across the facade of the U.S. Interests Section. Read the rest here.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Monday, January 23, 2006

So it only took the cagalitroso from Havana 8 days after the electronic sign went up to schedule a demonstration march against the USA. Scheduled for Tuesday, he will put on his sneakers, and thousands of communists and communist fearing Cubans will have to report to this march. It will be sold as a spontaneous event, but attendance will be taken.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

I am definetely a fan, and it will probably take a 12 step program to keep me from checking Babalú several times a day. Val embodies the story of thousands of Cubans longing for free Cuba, to one day step on the same soil as their parents and grandparents. Happy Birthday Val!

Valentin "Val" Prieto has few memories of Cuba: the lone plum tree in the backyard of his home in Oriente province, a frail neighbor who regularly slipped him candy through the chain-link fence — and the day his whole family cried.

Though only 3, Prieto remembers that 1968 day. His whole world changed as he said goodbye to his island home — a bittersweet choice his family made to flee Fidel Castro's communist regime.

Prieto's story is not unusual in Miami. But the way he tells it is. Several times a day, the 40-year-old Prieto — a project manager for a South Miami architectural firm — logs onto his home computer as "Babalu blogger," one of the first Cuban Americans to chronicle the exile experience in the fast-developing genre known as blogging.

"I wanted to have a place where people who don't know anything about Cuba can come and read the reality," said Prieto, who added that there are only a few bloggers who write solely on Cuban issues. "I wanted to demystify the myths and clear up the misconceptions about this culture."

Since Prieto launched his Babalu blog in June 2003 — named after a saint worshipped in Santeria, the Afro-Cuban religion, and made popular by singer Desi Arnaz — the site has become a favorite to many computer junkies around the world.

Hits to the site come from as far away as Japan, Switzerland and Australia. Each day, about 1,000 people drop by, Prieto said.

Readers often post remarks to Prieto's blogs, either thanking him for what he's written, criticizing him for his conservatism or asking him for more information on the topic.

One of the regular visitors to the site is A.M. Mora y Leon, a California journalist who uses a pseudonym to protect her identity because some of the topics she writes about are controversial.

Leon enjoys reading Prieto's blogs because his posts are unique and offer readers an insight into Cuban life, which, she said, is nearly impossible to find on the Internet.

"All over the Internet you can talk to people in rice paddies in southeast Asia, on the dusty plains in India and even in China, but you can't talk to anyone in Cuba," Leon said. "But Val is the closest thing to it. He fills that gap."

Prieto's introduction to blogging happened by chance.

Up until a few years ago, Prieto said, he didn't even know he could write.

But as the blogging phenomenon continued to gain popularity, Prieto became curious. He surfed the Internet, reading blog after blog.

"I was hooked," he said.

He was also shocked by the lack of posts about his country.

"There was nothing about Cuba in all the different blogs I read," Prieto said. "I decided to change that."

From current events making news on the island to meaningful Cuban holidays, there is little that goes unwritten in Prieto's world of blogging.

Most of what Prieto writes about is his reaction to news happening in Cuba, which he sees on television news or reads in newspapers or wire reports. He has little family remaining in the country and rarely speaks to anyone on the island, he said.

But some of his most treasured posts, he says, are the stories he remembers being told by his parents and grandparents about life before Castro.

He also gets inspired by flipping through old photographs of his parents walking through the streets of Havana, or his late aunt Amanda, a beautiful Cuban movie star who died at 17.

"I was young when I left there," Prieto recalled. "What I know of the life there is what I know from my parents."

Some of the stories, however, aren't happy ones.

Soon after Castro took control of Cuba, Prieto's father was imprisoned for making oil lamps.

When he was released, the family had no choice but to move to the United States. The freedom they had while living in Miami's Little Havana, and then a neighborhood near the airport, was a nice change.

Both of Prieto's parents worked three jobs, trying to make ends meet for their two children.

But the family missed their home in Cuba and believed they would one day return.

That day has never come, though.

Growing up in Miami, Prieto said, it was hard to forget his homeland. Everywhere he'd go, from Little Havana to Hialeah to Westchester, he'd be reminded of the country he left.

His blog is the perfect outlet, he says, to vent his feelings of anger and sadness.

One of his most recent posts reflected on the valor of Cuban patriot, Jose Marti. In another, he praised Cuban graffiti artists for painting anti-government slogans that read "Down with Fidel" on a hospital in Placetas.

During the holidays, Prieto is on the computer more than usual informing his readers on Cuban traditions, such as cooking lechon, a pig, in La Caja China, Chinese roasting box, for Nochebuena, Christmas Eve. He also explained why nibbling on 12 grapes on New Year's Eve is good luck and tales about The Three Kings, or Los Reyes Magos.

Whatever subject he writes about, Prieto said, he feels that he is making a difference by enlightening readers about his life, the country he loves and misses, and the tyranny that plagues it.

"I'm doing what I set out to do," Prieto said. "Open some eyes, open some ears, open some hearts."

Neither the tough U.S. stance nor the friendly dialogue and gestures by Europe and Canada have led Castro to ease up on the island's dissidents.

By Carol J. Williams, Times Staff Writer

MIAMI — Canada and Spain invest in oil exploration and beachfront hotels. The United States imposes an economic embargo. Eastern European nations offer up their own success in throwing off communism. Latin America's leftist leaders, meanwhile, take a collective none-of-our-business posture.

Divergent as they may be, all of these strategies for improving human rights in Cuba have one thing in common: their failure to compel President Fidel Castro to relent on his repression of those who oppose his unraveling revolution.

In his annual assessment of the human rights situation issued this month, Oswaldo Paya, Cuba's most famous dissident and one of the few not in prison, laments that 2005 marked a return to "the darkest days of intolerance and restriction."

More than 70 Cubans pushing for democratic reforms remain jailed nearly three years after a crackdown on political dissent. Most Western nations united in protest over the harsh sentences meted out in April 2003, and the international community remains deeply fractured in its pursuit of freedom and democracy for Cubans. Go here for the rest of the story.

The financial status of the new Bolivian President were made public today. Evo Morales' net worth is $109,778, mostlty from coca land inhereted from his father. In December last year Evo announced that the presidential salary was going to be cut by half to approximately US$1,750 per month. Let's revisit this topic in 5 years, at the end of the cocalero's first term (if he lasts that long) and see how much wealth his vow to continue in the same path as Che has yielded.

HAVANA (Reuters) - U.S. diplomats arranged for Cuban dissidents to get a pep talk from former Polish President Lech Walesa on Saturday in the latest chapter of Washington's long-running ideological battle against President Fidel Castro's communist government.

"The system will fall because nobody believes in communism," said Walesa, the founder of Poland's Solidarity movement which toppled Poland's communist government and led to the collapse of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe.

"You are close to your goal," he said in Warsaw in a videoconference with dissidents gathered at the Havana home of the top U.S. diplomat in Cuba, Michael Parmly.The videoconference came five days after the seafront U.S. Interests Section set up a ticker along its upper windows to flash human rights messages and news headlines to Cubans in bright red lights.

The messages included "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up" from U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr's famed 1963 speech.This infuriated Castro. "I have to analyze what is happening at the Interests Section, the barbarous things and provocations that are going on," he said in a television address on Friday.

U.S. diplomats said they were trying to inform Cubans whose access to news is limited to Cuba's state-run media. "The billboard is an effort to dialogue with the Cuban people," Parmly told foreign reporters on Saturday. "Only in totalitarian societies do governments talk and talk at their people and never listen." The U.S. government has long criticized Cuba's one-party state, born of the 1959 revolution that brought Castro to power, for violating human rights and suppressing dissent.

Havana accuses Washington of overstepping international conventions in its efforts to overthrow Cuba's socialist society. The Bush administration has tightened sanctions on Cuba, increased support for Castro's opponents and stepped up radio and television broadcasts to the island. Havana has largely been successful in jamming the signals.The ticker is expected to set off a new billboard war.

A year ago, a Christmas display at the American mission included a lit-up number 75, in reference to the pro-democracy activists jailed by Cuba in March 2003.The Cuban government retaliated with huge billboards showing pictures of hooded and bloodied prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, a swastika and the words "Fascists: Made in USA."

Fidel Castro has sent his regards and his “love,” but will not be attending Evo Morales’ presidential inauguration. Instead the delegation is headed by his lackey V.P. Carlos Lage, whom upon arrival in Bolivia cited that the “president (Castro) will not be attending due to work related reasons.” Many have speculated that one reason is that the leader maximus is failing in health, see Babalú (posted by Mora). Everything that Fidel does is calculated and meditated, and the spot light will be on the cocalero’s assumption of the Bolivian presidency. The spotlight is not big enough or bright enough for Fidel to share, he will show up at a later date when he can grab more of it. And with regards to his failing health, the Kuban press is announcing his appearance on TV later today to continue a panel discussion about Kuba’s Revolución Energética.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

This story is for Marisol that posted a comment in La Ventanita, wondering why there is a disparity between Cuban refugees (wet foot/dry foot policy) and that of hungry illegal immigrants crossing the border. Marisol, sometimes it is not just about hunger! Alex at ¡Ya No Mas! has reported on Leiva.

It’s the scene from a horror movie: Mobs of 100 to 400 people gathering daily at dawn before a single house, chanting and taunting to the rhythm of ear-splitting music. At 11 p.m., obscenity-shouting, organized rowdies are bolstered by officers of the law and state security agents.

Only this is no movie, gone with the push of a button. It’s now everyday life for blind Cuban lawyer Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva, unwavering President of the Cuban Foundation of Human Rights. The scene described has been playing out every day since January 12, and is likely to continue until March 4, 2006 when Gonzalez Leiva’s house arrest comes to an end.

Military officials of the state security of Ciego de Avila, where Gonzalez Leiva lives and from the Cuban government prevent, the defender of human rights–who once went down to 90 lbs. on a hunger strike-- from leaving his house where he remains without water, food or electricity. Inside the house the heat is suffocating. As if to taunt him, every so often telephone service is randomly restored ever so briefly, but the blind lawyer remains unable to contact the outside world.

Inside the home with Gonzalez Leiva are Tania Maseda Guerra, activist in the Cuban Foundation of Human Rights and Luis Esteban Espinosa, an independent journalist. In testimony from Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva smuggled out of Cuba, taped, transcribed and translated to English by the Coalition of Cuban-American Women in the United States, Gonzalez Leiva says he is not afraid.

"I’m not afraid at all. These people threaten that they are going to enter my home, but they will have to take me by force," he states. "If I withstood 26 months in prison under daily torture by Cuban military officials, harassed, beaten up, and poisoned by chemical substances from which I still suffer, then I will withstand inside my house for 26 months more."

For the prisoners held inside the Ciego de Avila house, doors and windows are pounded on. Ear-splitting music is blared from loudspeakers by mobs, which range in membership from criminals to university students, all shouting government slogans and obscenities through microphones. The mobs ominously threaten that they ultimately are going to crash into the house with military tanks; that they are going to burn the occupants up because they are antisocial persons in the service of imperialism, among other things.

Gonzalez Leiva’s antagonizers go beyond bravado: "They have pushed and savagely beaten many activists, friends, and my family members that have entered, tried to enter, or left my house in our defense. Among the names that I can identify are: Yodalis Calderin Nunez, my wife’s niece, independent journalist, Luis Esteban Espinosa and psychologist Antonio Legon Mendoza."

The Castro Cuban government has Gonzalez Leiva’s father, Agustin Gonzalez held hostage, and in spite of the fact that he has a visa to travel to the United States, does not allow him to leave the country, in what Gonzalez Leiva says is a tactic "used to pressure me so that I leave the country as well" (at the end of imposed house arrest).

The bravery of the Cuban people, (some of whom are Gonzalez Leiva’s neighbours) who have tried to intervene and defend him, is remarkable. To them, Gonzalez Leiva expressed gratitude on the smuggled out tape: "To all of them, I say that we have hope that there will be a change in Cuba. This struggle demonstrates that the government is falling apart. I thank human rights organizations and the international press for all they have done for me and for their support of the struggle of the Cuban people."

It was largely the refusal of human rights activists to give up that saw the final release of Cuban hero Armando Valladares after 22 years in Cuban prison.In the case of Gonzalez Leiva, there is someone else not seen by the human eye, but always present in the surrounded-by-mob house in Ciego de Avila province.

"Jesus Christ is with us; he is accompanying us, and he gives us victory and peace": Gonzalez Leiva. "We are not going to lift a finger against anyone nor are we going to commit any crime. Whatever happens here is the responsibility of State Security, Cuban military officials and the Cuban government."

This may not be a timely posting, but it is refreshing to find someone (a black man) that is courageous enough not to tow the PC line, and tell it like it is. Mr. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder of BOND tells it like this.

"I also believe that his actions are treasonous as described by Article 3, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, which says that 'adhering to our enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort' constitutes treason."

"Chavez is a brutal, paranoid dictator with nuclear ambitions who wants nothing more than to destroy the U.S. It's time we take our laws seriously and consider Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, Professor Cornel West and other Americans who met with Chavez as domestic enemies of the United States."

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Surfing through the usual blogs this morning, Babalú had a reference to Jim DeFede. I posted a message requesting more information on this individual…being in California, I am a little removed from knowing all the local Miami “celebs.” Therefore, I decided to do my own little research and here is what I found:

1. I found that Jim DeFede is fat, actually obese.

2. I found that he is (was) a news columnist for the Miami Herald.

3. I found that he was fired from the Herald for illegally recording a conversation with politician Arthur E. Teele, Jr., hours before Teele killed himself.

Both Publisher Jesús Díaz Jr. and Executive Editor Tom Fiedler said they fired the popular Metro writer because it is illegal for anyone to tape a conversation with another person without that individual's consent in Florida.

4. I found that DeFede is a Brooklyn NY native.

5. I found that he wrote a book titled, “The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Garner, Newfoundland.”

7. I found that Granma, the Cuban official paper portrays Jim very positively.

The newspaper fired DeFede on July 27, alleging a violation of ethics. In their open letter, his colleagues refer to the columnist’s fine journalism and describe the firing as a disproportionate sanction for the gravity of the error. They attribute the firing as being more likely due to his “willingness in the past to offend powerful figures in Miami...” Many note that after recently returning from Havana, DeFede wrote articles in which he criticized the complacency of the group that monopolizes political power and supports Luis Posada Carriles, the self-confessed mastermind of acts of terrorism.In his article titled “Terror is terror, whether it’s in London or Cuba,” DeFede criticized comments by Cuban-born Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, about what she called the “barbaric” terrorist attack in London. DeFede wrote: “Strong words. What But where was the congresswoman's outrage when she came to the defense of Luis Posada Carriles, a man who bragged about masterminding a series of hotel bombings in Havana that killed an Italian tourist? A man suspected of blowing up a Cuban airliner?

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Don’t you cringe when you hear on the news about a rapist or a murderer, and the name given is that of Hispanic person? I do. And you say to yourself, espero que no sea cubano(a), and actually feel relieved when the person turns out to be Puerto Rican or Columbian or anything other than Cuban. I think it stems from our pride as a group, which makes us a little guarded, protecting our accomplishments so of speak. When they caught Ana Belen Montes spying for Cuba, I am sure that many Cuban-Americans were relieved that she was not Cuban. Cuban-Americans take it as a personal affront when one of its own goes astray. We are also very proud proud when a Cuban-American shines, as in the case of Zulima V. Farber, first latina (Cuban) Attorney General for the State of New Jersey. Click here to check out her curriculum vitae.

OBITUARIESOfelia Fox, 82; Operated Havana's Hot Tropicana Ofelia Fox, once known as the first lady of Havana's Tropicana nightclub, a Cuban show palace in the 1950s, has died. She was 82.Fox died Monday of cancer and complications from diabetes at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, according to Rosa Sanchez, her companion of more than 40 years.

By Mary Rourke, Times Staff WriterIn her memoir, "Tropicana Nights, The Life and Times of the Legendary Cuban Nightclub," co-written with Rosa Lowinger and published last fall, Fox recounted life at the casino and dance club owned by Martin Fox, whom she married in 1952.

The famous gathered at the club, including actors Ava Gardner and Tyrone Power and writer Ernest Hemingway. Performers included Nat King Cole and Josephine Baker. Showgirls, lavish productions, congas and domino tournaments added to the air of a "Paradise Under the Stars," as the club was called.

The building itself, the Arcos de Cristal, was a landmark composed of soaring arches, with fruit trees growing in the interior. It was included in an exhibition of mid-century Latin American architecture at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1954.

Fox worked with her husband at the club seven nights a week during the nine years he owned the Tropicana. She was fluent in English and moved easily among the U.S. celebrities who frequented the casino. Her skill in English was important because her husband spoke only Spanish.

After the Cuban revolution of 1959, Fidel Castro took possession of the club and Fox and her husband fled to Miami. There, she became a close friend of Sanchez.

Fox's husband, Martin, suffered a stroke and died in the mid-1960s. She had no children and decided to move with Sanchez to Los Angeles to start a new life. Sanchez worked in radio and had been offered a job here.

Her house in Glendale became a gathering place for Cuban American neighbors and other friends, where domino tournaments and avid socializing were common.

Born Ofelia Suarez in Havana, the youngest of four, she graduated from the Havana Business Academy and became an English teacher.

She published several books of poetry while she lived in Cuba and self-published "Patria en Lagrima" (Tears in the Homeland) while she lived in Florida.

In Los Angeles, several of her bilingual plays were staged by the Cuban Cultural Club in Monterey Park.

A prayer service will be held at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Little Church of the Flowers, Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in Glendale. A gravesite ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday at the cemetery.

Donations in Fox's name can be made to Providence St. Joseph Foundation, 501 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

These are the logos of products represented by Tecun Tecnología Universales. Tecun operates in Cuban territory, and from the looks of it the products look like hi-tech items. But wait you say, some of those logos are from American owned companies. That is correcto my amigo. Did you expect Dell, Hewlett Packard, Compaq, Western Digital being sold in the heart of "blocked" Cuba. Well there they are! So next time you hear from the dictator that his people are starving or do not have lives essentials because of the blockade, please give him the one finger salute. Maybe they are Chinese knock-offs.

PETA, it seems like the animals took things into their own hoofs. At least a couple of bulls did. Did PETA minions show up to throw red paint at the worshipers, sorry the murderers of innocent animals. Perhaps at future Eid-al-Adha festivals you can offer the worshippers to exchange the sacrificial animals for a sacrificial tofu goat.

Eid al-Adha is celebrated on the 10th of Dhul-Hijja (last month of Muslim lunar calendar) which day is called the day of sacrifice (Nahr). The Eid al-Adha occurs during the annual Hajj when approximately 2 million Muslims make a pilgrimage to Mecca. Muslims celebrate the Feast of Sacrifice in honor of Abraham (Ibrahim) whom they believe would have sacrificed Ishmael within the Kaaba in Mecca, except that Allah provided a sacrificial lamb for Ishmael. Hundreds of sheep, goats, and camels are sacrificed each year during the Eid al-Adha.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Muslim faithful are supposed to sacrifice sheep or other livestock for the Eid al-Adha festival, but in Turkey more than 1,600 people cut themselves and two died of heart attacks on Tuesday.Turkey's streets annually run with blood as sheep and cattle have their throats cut on pavements and waste ground to commemorate Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son for God. The scenes are decried by the secular media which every year calls for an end to the public slaughter.Three people suffered heart attacks and two of them died while carrying out sacrifices, state-run Anatolian news agency said, and 1,664 were hospitalised nationwide, mostly from cuts suffered while trying to hold down struggling beasts.Television showed a number of bulls escaping the knife and running down the streets. One butted open the door of a corner shop and took refuge inside. Angry bulls in at least two places attacked their would-be killers and put them in hospital.But one man in the western province of Bolu solved the problem of how to catch an escaped bull by shooting it in the legs with a shot-gun and then cutting its throat.A portion of the meat from the dead animals is distributed to the poor.

Just like when the CIA let out the information that Castro has Parkinson’s disease, he immediately when into the denial phase. Going on television and doing a 5 hour speech just to prove that he is not sick, he held out his hand into the air for everyone to see that there was no shaking. According the National Parkinson’s Foundation website, the first thing a patient does when diagnosed with the disease is denial. Well, Castro is now too denying his involvement in the John Kennedy assignation, as it is alleged in the German movie “Rendezvous with Death.” Today, Cuba’s official newspaper Granma has a long article on how this is all manufactured by the USA because of its dislike for Cuba. What would you expect them to say?

The film, shown to journalists in Berlin on Wednesday, says Oswald traveled to Mexico City by bus in September 1963, seven weeks before the Kennedy shooting, and met agents at the Cuban embassy there who paid him $6,500.

Monday, January 09, 2006

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” Mat. 18:20

In an anti-Christian move Fidel has ordered “forcibly” the closure of two churches in the eastern provinces of Guantánamo and Holguín. The article cites a new legislation that requires that all home churches register with the authorities. The growth of home churches has been increasing steadily since 1989, specifically Protestant based worshipers…and this worries the commies. It undermines the revolution, and there can only be one demi-god in Cuba.Cuba Shuts Down Churches Amid Controversy Over Law, Group Reports

HAVANA, CUBA (BosNewsLife)-- The Communist government of Cuba has closed down at least three Protestant churches following new "harsh legislation" on house churches, a religious rights group said Monday, January 9. Read the rest of the story here.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Check out the responses after my posting below on Belkys Pérez Cruz' blog site about Al Telesur. Belkys' comrades are now also commenting, I must of struck a cord. There is Dayana Litz (see her e-mail to me below)and her mother Marlene Franco. And now enven Belkys' 8 year old daughter Patricia has a blog site, and she writes too "professional" to be the author. There is freedom of press for Cubans working for fidel as long as no one deviates from the same diarrhea of though that he has been spewing for the last 47 years.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Say it isn't so! We had the 52" plasma TV, the food, the drinks, and a multitude of friends prepared to see USC pounce on the Texas Longhorns. It was a nail biting, leave the room, stomach sinking kind of game, and in the end Steve Young carried his team to a victory. USC was looking for their third national championship, its defense sucked and it was not to be. I will still wear my SC hat proudly, after all I pay enough tuition into that school to support a small neighborhood of ilegals.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Surfing blogs as I often do, and more specifically those dealing with Cuba, I stumble onto certain blogs that just make my blood go from warm to a rapid boil in 0 to 30 seconds. The latest of these is "Proposiciones," a blog from a Cuban doctor stationed in Pakistan. This doctor named Belkys Pérez Cruz, does not reference a single medical victory, or number of sick cured, or treatment given, etc., her postings are all about "a small island loaded with dreams and hopes" and for their love and respect for fidel. Fidel has no need to send armies or communist revolutionaries (a la Che) to conquer the Third World...just send a doctor and a teacher. Just ask the Venezuelans.

All my comments have been deleted from the site, so I encourage anyone that reads this to visit the site and give your opinion; however, I must warn you that it will not stay long, unless you are in agreement with Dr. Pérez distorted views.